Thinking Differently

We know we think differently about polythene. This is demonstrated not only in our cutting-edge products Polylite, Polyair and Polycomp, but also in our approach to sustainability across our entire business.

Over the last few years, we have focused on becoming the ‘greenest’ company in the polythene industry.  This has been achieved by reducing our impact on the environment. We set our sights on carbon negative status by:

• Moving into 8,000 sq ft premises in Witney equipped with a highly efficient renewable energy system that is currently operating as ‘carbon negative’.
• Improving our use of resources, including recycling all our waste paper, glass, cardboard, plastic & polythene; reprocessing rainwater; supplying a local animal shelter with bedding from our shredded paper; and installing EconoSpeed in our delivery vehicles, which delivers up to 15% fuel savings.
• Thinking differently about staffing. Working together with local youth charity Base 33, we developed a new initiative to recruit and support long-term unemployed young people. They join the tele-marketing team initially before moving up into the sales team. A larger sales team means increased sales of our environmentally conscious products and in turn, increased carbon savings across the UK.
• Achieving savings from our renewable energy system, reducing our fuel spend by £16,000 p.a.; generating 19,000 kWh p.a. which saves 9.2 tonnes of CO₂; generating 150,000 kWh of heat p.a. which saves 30.9 tonnes of CO₂.
• Helping our customers see the bigger picture by offering a free consultation service on all aspects of cost savings, product specifications and improving a company’s carbon footprint; by teaming up with Oxfordshire-based Earth Save Products, we also use our premises in Witney to showcase renewable energy solutions and increase overall awareness of their benefits.

Looking ahead, we have plans in place to improve our green credentials. These include installing a 3.5kW wind turbine, to enable us to generate and sell additional electricity back to the national grid. Alongside promoting our bio-based product Polyair film to reduce our demand on fossil fuels, we plan to implement a bio-fuel system on our premises to encourage staff to switch their cars to using biomass.